Looking forward to a whole year ahead can leave you reconsidering things in your personal life, including your exercise routines. In recent years, there’s been a rather large focus on high-impact workouts, ranging from things like running and tennis all the way to the massively popular high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts.
For some people, however, high-impact workouts might not be their preferred choice. Some individuals may want to steer clear of high-impact workouts for a number of reasons.
- Past injuries have led to complications with their joints or bones.
- They’re a beginner to working out and high-impact workouts can be intimidating.
- They want to put less wear and tear on their bodies.
- They simply don’t enjoy high impact exercises.
For someone looking to move away from or explore alternatives to high-impact workouts, low-impact workouts are a fantastic move. Low-impact workouts help to increase your heart rate while reducing the overall stress that your joints are under. Best of all, just like other kinds of exercise, low-impact workouts come in many forms!
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Walking Workouts
Walking is probably the most well-known form of a low-impact workout. It’s something that most of us do on a daily basis and it serves as a great option for people of all fitness levels, whether they’re beginner or advanced. You can incorporate more outdoor walks into everyday life or up the intensity by walking faster.
One of my favorite ways to do walking workouts is by following KyraPro’s videos on YouTube. They’re set to music and usually run about 15 minutes, with Kyra leading you through walking workouts that are perfect for indoors. With videos like “Doja Cat Walking Workout - Fun Cardio for Beginners'' and “2000s Walking Workout”, they’re a very fun option for low-impact workouts that can really be done anywhere.
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Strength Training
A lot of low-impact workouts fall under the cardio category, including strength training. Just because you’re looking for low-impact workouts doesn’t mean you have to give up any muscle building that you’ve done in the past. There are a variety of strength training options out there, and one that’s versatile for people of all fitness levels are dumbbells.
Dumbbells are easily found in any gym and can be used at home if you spring for it. Available in different weights, you can determine what weight limit works best for you and follow along with tutorials you find online. Try searching for your fitness level and “dumbbell workouts” to see what comes up. Some common dumbbell moves you might see are hammer curls, tricep kickbacks, front raises, and chest presses. Once you have your moves ready, change into your tank top and get to strength training.
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Roller Skating
For those of you that like running, roller skating is a great, low-impact alternative. Roller skating is a full-body cardio workout that works areas like your hips, core, and upper leg muscles. Like other low-impact exercises, roller skating is much easier on the joints when compared to running, where your legs are taking a lot of impact from the ground.
Not only do you still get the overall cardio workout when you skate, but you also have a ton of fun! Look for local roller rinks and skate parks. It can be a solo activity, with a friend, or even a group hang. See who wants to meet up for a fun skating session.
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HIIT Alternatives With No Jumping
If you’re unfamiliar, a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workout is a kind of exercise that makes use of intense cardio exercises for short spurts followed by briefer recovery in between different moves. For example, you might do a plank for 45 seconds, recover for 20 seconds, and then move onto push-ups for 45 seconds. HIIT workouts may seem a bit intimidating, but they can also be surprisingly low-impact.
Many HIIT workouts involve jumping, which is why I’d recommend checking out MadFit’s YouTube videos. Her channel has videos like “Low Impact Full Body HIIT Workout (No Equipment + No Jumping.” These are a great alternative to more intense HIIT workout if you’re looking to keep them in your fitness regimen. So change into your workout crew neck t-shirt and see how the no jumping alternatives work for you.
Swimming
Swimming, whether you’re doing it in a pool, an ocean, or a river, is a very fun low-impact workout. You don’t have to be amazing at swimming to get the benefits that come with it either. (Look, we can’t all be Olympic-level athletes and that’s totally ok!) Swimming offers you a full-body workout, since your entire body is engaged — and you can easily switch up your swimming style to focus on different areas as you go.
Alongside that full-body workout, swimming also serves as a fantastic cardio workout that can help to improve your endurance. Your core will strengthen and the low-impact from swimming will help to reduce stress on your joints.
With that, you have a couple of low-impact options to consider for your workouts moving forward. Variety in your exercise can be a great way to mix things up throughout the year and keep your fitness fresh and fun.
— Paige Lyman
